Design Your Career
Career opportunities are abundant in Northeast Ohio, and our academic advisors are passionate about helping you align your talents, work experience, credits earned, and interests to design a pathway to your dream job.
We’ve been building partnerships with local employers for decades, and these relationships have:
- Developed academic programs that directly align with industry needs
- Created earn-and-learn opportunities for LCCC students
- Strengthened pathways for local apprentices to earn degrees
Start with these in-demand fields
Consider a career in high-opportunity sectors within Northeast Ohio including manufacturing, IT/ information services and healthcare (Northeast Ohio Key Industries, Team NEO). Or you may want to serve others as a first responder or teacher. There are lots of ways to combine these pathways with other LCCC programs to design your next step.
Take Charge of Your Path – Easy as 1, 2, 3
We can help you combine classes you’ve already taken, give you credit for your work and life experience, and customize a plan to get you to your degree. Meet with an advisor to design your career.
1. Start with your college credits
If you already have some college credit, we’ll combine all of your past college courses, AP credits, and transfer credits.
2. Find your career fit based on your skills and interests
Not sure what career is right for you? We have tools to help you explore your skills and interests and match you with the right career.
MyPlan is a FREE self-assessment tool that provides a user-friendly, step-by-step process to identify your strengths, interest and talents. You have all the tools and information you’ll need in one stop to take that first critical step in finding out what makes you tick, what work environments you thrive in, and what to do with this information to move ahead. Don't forget your access code!
Career Coach also offers a free assessment to help you match your interests to careers. You can choose from a Quick Start Assessment with just six questions or take the Detailed Assessment with 60 questions.
Understanding the local job marketing and related salary and wage information is an important part of the career-decision process. You want to know that local jobs are available in your field and that you will earn a good wage. Career Coach provides the most current local data on wages, employment, local job postings and associated education and training. Career Coach also connects you to academic programs at LCCC and provides the information you need to help in the career-decision process.
Take some time to explore. If you aren't sure which specific program or major you want to pursue, select from one of the nine academic pathways. This will allow you to spend a little more time exploring courses and job and salary information within the pathway, preparing you to make a well-informed decision about your career path.
3. Get credit for work and life experience
Do you have some experience we can consider? The skills you have picked up working in previous or current jobs matter more than you might think. Local employers are looking for individuals with unique combinations of skills across industries, and LCCC is a partner in preparing a ready workforce.
Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) for Credit
Students who come to LCCC with prior work experiences may be able to demonstrate their knowledge and learning in a variety of ways through Prior Learning Assessment (PLA). PLA can include things like:
- Interviews- with faculty in their discipline in which credit may be earned
- Documentation- presenting prior training or education, service, awards, certification, and other documents (this can include journeyman cards until LCCC’s Associate of Technical Studies partnerships)
- Observation- faculty members observe students demonstrating prior learning and knowledge
- Challenge- some courses may have comprehensive exams
LCCC, as a public institution in Ohio, accepts and awards credits for military experience and training. At minimum, LCCC awards three semester credits for Basic Training upon copy of the DD214. However, LCCC also accepts the Joint Services Transcript (Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard) and Community College of the Air Force transcripts, and awards credits using Ohio’s Military Transfer Assurance Guides (MTAGs).
LCCC will also help those who have served with additional credit evaluation, beyond the MTAGs, using the Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) process.
For more information about transferring military experiences to LCCC and using military educational benefits, contact our Veteran and Military Services office.
Occupational Mobility Explorer is a user-friendly tool designed by the Federal Reserve to help find bridges between the work you have already done and the jobs of today and tomorrow. Use this to:
- Find occupations that require the skills you have already gained through previous work
- Identify the most in-demand skills for occupations in our area (Northeast Ohio is represented!)
- Build a customized path that builds upon your current work and leads to 10% or more in earnings
4. Build your plan
After we’ve combined all of your college credit, we’re ready to design your career. You might be just beginning your journey. You may already be close to one of our degree or certificate programs. Or you might choose to combine your courses and work experiences to build a unique degree aligned with jobs in in-demand sectors of the regional workforce. You can work with your Academic Advisor to design your career.
Choose from our Program and Career Pathways
Business and Entrepreneurship Programs
Computer and Information Technology Programs
Culinary and Hospitality Programs
Engineering and Manufacturing Programs
Human/Social Services and Public Safety Programs
Liberal and Creative Arts Programs
Can’t find the right program? Customize Your Degree
If these programs don’t seem like a good fit, you can choose one of our customized associate degree programs.